Breaking

Chapter 12.

Arabella

Alex wasn't on the phone when I was sleeping. We both agreed that staying on the phone while the other one-or both of us-slept is creepy. I remember Tobias waking me though and I remember grabbing my phone and hiding it from him. I knew Alex wasn't on the phone, I was just scared he might've text me-which he did-and Tobias was going to see it.

"How old were you when you started dating?" I ask Manuel. It was sudden, I asked him right when I entered the kitchen, and his body tensed up. "Sorry," I chuckle.

"Your food's almost done." We take a seat at the kitchen island, sitting next to each other. "So, you like someone."

I nod. "Well, I think I do. We haven't had much time to talk but what I already know about him, I like." We both realize what I just said and we laugh. "You know what I mean!"

"Yeah, I think I do," he chuckles.

"When did you start dating?"

He grimaces. "Honestly...? When I was thirteen. Then I stopped dating when I was fifteen."

"'Stopped dating'?" I ask shyly.

"Sex. I lost my virginity when I was fifteen then quickly realized that most girls my age weren't having sex so I stopped dating and started having sex with girls older than me-wait, let me rephrase that. I slept with three girls in three years and they were all two years older than me."

"Is that still the case now-I mean, just sex?"

He shrugs. "Whenever I even start to consider a real relationship, they always want just sex. Plus, I'm busy with school and with working with Tobias. Maybe sex is for the best." His eyes slightly widen then he laughs, dragging his hand down the side of his face. "I can't believe I just told you that."

"Why?"

"Because you're fifteen and Tobias will literally kill me if he finds out."

I shake my head. "I'm not telling him."

Manuel chuckles. "Yeah because you started this conversation wondering about some boy. How old is he anyway?"

"Seventeen."

He bursts into laughter. And continues to laugh so hard, his eyes start to water. I roll my eyes and cross my arms over my chest. Eventually, he runs out of oxygen and is forced to stop. "I'm sorry but as long as you're living with Tobias, he'll never allow that to happen. Especially when he's a guy himself and knows how seventeen-year-olds think."

"Not everyone," I whisper, slouching in my seat.

"Tobias won't risk it." My phone vibrates on the counter in front of us and Manuel picks up my phone. "Alex wants to know if you need him to pick up your homework and actually pay attention in class to take notes."

"Give me that!" I snatch my phone from his hand.

"Alex...as in Alex Sands, Lyla and Dan's kid, the Lyla and Dan that we were catering for Sunday?" Manuel smiles now, a little too hard like he's enjoying how messed up the situation is.

"Shush!"

"You've been talking to him for that long?"

I shake my head. "We talked Sunday night but that was for like twenty minutes before Tobias found us and scared him off. Today Alex started his first day at my school. He didn't talk to me because Tobias told him not to me so I talked to him."

"Call him. I won't tell Tobias."

"Really?"

"Don't tell Tobias I told you about my sex life and I won't tell him you're talking to a boy. But." I blink and his face is abruptly hard and serious, startling me. "If you don't feel like you're ready-"